Conventional hair dressing treatment involves the use of coloring agents, permanent wave solutions, and other treating liquids. These solutions alter one or more characteristics of a person's hair. Solutions are kept in contact with the hair for sufficient time to complete the treatment.
Particularly in beauty salons, where one beautician treats a number of customers at one time, hairdressing treatment solutions may be in contact with a person beyond the necessary minimum time for completion of the procedure. Permanent wave solutions which cause the hair to assume a desirable curl or wavelike pattern are alkaline in nature. Similarly, coloring solutions often are alkaline. While these solutions are normally safe when properly used, some people have a particular sensitivity to one or more of the many chemical hairdressing solutions presently on the market. Often times, this sensitivity manifests itself in an irritation of the skin surrounding the hairline which is commonly called "flare-up". Because exposed skin is sometimes more sensitive than the scalp is, flare-up occurs along the back of the neck and across the forehead. Moreover, even if the flare-up is mild and not harmful, temporary streaks of red on the face or neck are unsightly and detract from initial approval of the hair dressing treatment.
The principal method for reducing or eliminating flare-up and other adverse effects from hair dressing treatments is the use of cotton ropes or other absorbent materials which are used to pack the area adjacent the hair line and absorb the solution so that it does not run down onto the exposed skin of the customer. This procedure is at best partially effective for some of the beauty shop patrons. Clients who are more sensitive are subjected to flare-up even when the beautician is extremely careful and quick with the application of cotton or other blotting materials during the chemical treatments. Some customers forego certain treatments because of above normal sensitivity either initially or after repeated treatments. In addition, the beautician is required to expend an inordinate amount of time in order to prevent flare-up and other side effects from the treatments with the present cotton packing method.
One method which has been used to minimize the adverse affects on a person's skin during hair treatment is the messy, but somewhat effective, procedure of using petroleum jelly or other greasy products to form a protective area at the hair line. Often times, a cotton strip or rope is used in combination with this layer of protective grease. The cotton strip or rope is approximately one inch in diameter and about two feet long, and is wrapped around the head of the customer at the hair line to absorb the various treating solutions as they are applied. It is awkward to use and becomes very messy and cumbersome when saturated with liquid.
Because typical hair treatment processes may involve three or four applications of solutions and because the conventional cotton products often are saturated, three or four or more of these cotton ropes are employed during a typical permanent wave application. In spite of every precaution, however, irritating and messy solutions drip down onto the person's neck and cheek, potentially endangering the eyes and ears. Almost always, the cotton ropes fail to keep the solution from contacting the skin as it drains from the hair to the scalp and then down the head of the person.
Other materials have generally been used to absorb liquids but none of these alternative articles of manufacture have been found to be useful in the hair dressing industry. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,410 describes a disposable absorbent pad which may be used for diapers, surgical dressings and the like. This patent contains no suggestion that alkaline fluids such as often employed in the hair dressing industry might be absorbed.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,055,184 describes an absorbent pad which uses a hydrolyzed starch copolymer in combination with a water soluble material. There is no suggestion that such a device would be useful in the hair dressing industry.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,502,156 describes a non-woven polypropylene fabric which is used to absorb liquids. One use of this design is as a hat band, presumably because the design is capable of temporarily holding a quantity of moisture which would then evaporate or otherwise be removed during non-use of the hat. Similarly, headbands and wristbands for atheletic competition are suggested, but these designs do not seal in the moisture or prevent leakage. There is no recognition that their is a need to keep the fluids away from contact with that part of the body to which the pad has been applied. The patent appears to describe reuseable articles in which moisture that has been absorbed must be removed. Clearly, there is no suggestion that the apparatus would be useful in the hair dressing industry.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,770,298 describes a pad having a complicated structure which is designed to fit various body shapes. There is no mention that the material might be useful for hair dressing applications. There is a specific recognition that garments formed from flat sheets have low absorbtion and are likely to cause discomfort. There is a disclosure of superabsorbent materials generally, which are conventionally known materials which absorb many times their own weight in fluids.
At the present time, no product is available which is capable of substantially reducing or eliminating skin irritation from chemical hair services. Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide such a device in as economical and efficient a manner as possible.